


Use Your Damn Words

by StonyAvengerGirl16 (CharmedBritannia)



Series: StarkSpangledWinter [8]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: But talking helps, Everyone is insecure, Fluff, M/M, OT3, Protective Bucky, Protective Steve, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is bad at emotions, but his lovers love him anyway, seriously, use your damn words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-02 12:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5248571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmedBritannia/pseuds/StonyAvengerGirl16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is dealing with a few...insecurities in his relationship. Bucky and Steve will have none of it, but run into their own insecurities along the way. Really, they all just need to sit down and talk this shit out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Use Your Damn Words

**Author's Note:**

> Requests or prompts? Comments below! 
> 
> Enjoy!

\-----

Tony Stark was a realist.

 

He was a man of facts, and variables, and science with evidence and proof. He was not an idealist like his _sole;_ who believed that everything and everyone could be saved, and that the world would one day be a better place. He shared a common viewpoint with his _luna_ , but even he had a more hopeful outlook, saying that 'if I could be fixed, than anyone can with enough effort'. But he followed patterns, and researched. He was an engineer; he knew what would work, and what wouldn't, and why.

 

So that was why he woke up snuggled between his two boyfriends thinking, _'this is never going to last.'_

 

He was aware that people called him cynical, but he wasn't cynical. He was a _realist._ There was a _difference._  He looked over all of his past relationships, gathering data and coming to a conclusion. He and Pepper were his longest so far, with a year, and even that was strained. So to be in a relationship with not one, but _two_ super-soldiers, who were literally the pinnacle of human perfection, who were in a perfectly alright relationship before they...invited him in, and who loved him? That was to much for his realistic mind to process; it was literally to good to be true. So yes, it was reasonable to say that this wasn't going to last.

 

Really.

\-----

Steve and Bucky noticed something was wrong straight away, because of course they would. Steve petted his hair, and murmured that if anything was wrong he should just say so, and Bucky just hugged him, silently trying to reassure him. But to their frustration, nothing seemed to work. Tony was all political grins and snark, but those eyes were closed off, something they hadn't been in a long time.

 

The workshop became a catalyst, with him spending more and more time down there. He refused to turn to a bottle (he tried to ignore the small part of him that whispered that _they would be disappointed_ ), so he welded and hammered and coded and sketched until he felt like he was going to pass out from exhaustion, and even then he chose to pass out on the couch in the workshop instead of the penthouse, steadfastly ignoring the chill that his _sole_ and _luna_ usually chased away.

\-----

Without anywhere else to turn, the two super-soldiers turned to Pepper. They bristled when she told them it was just normal behavior, and that he would get over it soon; that there was no way they could try and pick him up out of it. Before Steve could stop him or pull him out of the office, Bucky had snapped that if she had just accepted this behavior as 'normal', it was no wonder they hadn't lasted long. Pepper had just narrowed her eyes, and said that he wasn't going to talk about whatever was bothering him any time soon, and that she couldn't force him, and also emphasized that it was Tony's superhero side-job that put the final nail in the coffin (which Steve could understand, but could never truly _relate to_ ; he could never imagine losing Tony over his desire to help people and fight the good fight). So, she said, all they could was wait out the storm. Steve had simply nodded, and apologized for Bucky's brash comment (it didn't really help that Bucky kept muttering about how he wasn't sorry at all), but they both left feeling much more irritated than when they arrived, with a new determination to make this work. There was no way in _hell_ they were going to let whatever past shadows were haunting Tony rip him away from them, especially when they had just got him.

 

They sat on the huge bed that seemed enormous without their third piece there, wondering what could possibly be going on. Steve wondered if it was his stubbornness and over-protective tendencies, that maybe he was smothering Tony and pushing him away. Bucky wondered if all the work his rehabilitation was taking: the therapy, the nightmares, the flashbacks, and the maintenance to his arm; he wondered if just maybe...Tony was getting tired of it.

 

Neither really knew what the other was thinking, and before they knew it, the Avengers had three depressed team-members down for the count. Natasha sighed and went to work on Steve, and Bruce decided to go check on Bucky.

\-----

"What's going on, Steve? A few days ago you were practically skipping through rose gardens with how sickeningly stricken you were. Now you looked like Santa just crashed into the Salvation Army truck that was delivering free coats to orphans on Christmas Eve."

 

Steve winced at the depressing metaphor, but he had to admit that that was how much his heart hurt.

 

"It's just Tony, Nat. He's been distancing himself lately, and I'm wondering if I've driven him away, somehow. I know how over-protective I can get, and he must find it annoying at times. But I didn't think-"

 

Steve choked on his words.

 

"I didn't think that would make him _break up with us."_

 

Nat raised a delicate eyebrow.

 

"Has he actually broken up with you?" _  
_

"Well, no-"

"Then the situation is fixable. You are all grown men. Use your damn words."

\-----

"So you think that Tony isn't willing to put in the effort anymore?"

 

Bucky slouched.

 

"I mean, I know it must get tiring to have to always worry about whether or not your boyfriend is going to curl up in a ball and scream himself hoarse."

 

He remembered those days. After the first few days of him being brought into SHIELD, his memory had started to creep back in. They were mixing with the blood and nightmare fuel, and it left him a shivering ball of terror that not even the psychiatrists wanted to touch.

 

"Firstly, that hasn't happened since we first brought you in, and you've made tremendous progress. Secondly, Tony would never judge or ridicule you for having weaknesses or trauma. He has his own fair share, and he _understands_. And regarding the arm, he loves the thing to death, to almost insane levels. He wanted to work on it ever since he first saw you in a stable state."

 

He couldn't help but smirk a little. He _had_ joked that Tony liked the arm more than the fella attached to it, but of course Tony had taken him seriously, and kissed and hugged him in that way only Tony could.

 

"Try talking to him. I know it's going to take some effort, but you should give it a try."

\-----

Tony was blinking in an attempt to keep himself awake, when the swishing of the door opening and the silencing of his music broke his attention from...whatever he was working on.

 

How long had he been down here? 

 

Probably a _long_ time.

 

He was about to turn and snark at whoever was interrupting, when he found himself being physically removed from his workbench. Which wasn't okay. He barely let out an 'oof' as his midsection was braced against a broad shoulder, and before he knew it, he was being carried like a damn sack of potatoes out of his lab. He scrambled to find purchase, pounding his fists and kicking his legs in an effort to get free. He realized that 'getting free' would most likely result in falling flat on his face, so he just glared at the currently not Star Spangled ass that he knew so well, and focused on making himself as heavy as possible. Although he had seen Steve lift up to damn near ten times his body weight, so his efforts were futile.

 

He was petulantly silent during his kidnapping, and he stayed silent until he was placed on the bed that they shared (and he had to admit he missed, greatly). Before he could make a quip about how they could have just asked if they wanted sex, he was snuggled by almost four-hundred pounds of super-soldier. He could only sit there while they whispered promises and pleas that they would do better.

 

That's not what he wanted. _They_ were fine.

 

He told them so, unable to lie when they were cuddled up like this. They kissed every inch of his face that they could, assuring him that he was perfect to them. And Tony held each of their faces in turn, saying that his _sole_ took amazing care of him, which he felt so loved for, and that his _luna_ had nothing to worry about, that he couldn't be a burden if he tried. 

 

It was after their heartfelt discussion that Tony felt the sleeplessness creep up on him, the  weariness almost more than he could bear. He patted them, saying he needed to shower, and that if they wanted him in bed tonight, they needed to let him wash himself.

 

His lovers hurried to comply, and after he had cleaned himself thoroughly, he crawled over to his already designated spot in bed, sighing as he settled in. It was much better than the workshop, and he told them so. They did their whole 'hero sandwich' shtick, effectively pinning Tony to the mattress, ensuring that his little escapade to the workshop wouldn't be repeated.

 

Tony didn't really mind that much.

 

At all, really.

\------


End file.
